Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Tuesday Reflection for Week 1

Tuesday's class was very stimulating for me. Being somewhat new to the emergent conversation I am excited at engaging the material and other students in the class and see what is created. It's been 6 years since I graduated with my MDiv, so getting back into graduate work is going to be a bit of a challenge, but I am excited.

The questions that Newbingin raises concerning theologizing about western culture helped to put into words something that I've thought about quite a bit over the years. As my wife and I seek to share the good news of Jesus with our neighbors we have been asking these kinds questions. We are asking what the good news is to our neighbors in a post-christendom, postmodern setting. I've always felt disconnected with the traditional modes of evangelism, e.g. 4 spiritual laws. To reverse the quote from Ryan's book, I've felt like I was asking people to a gay bar when I invited people to church. But when the question of exegeting the culture and the lives of those whom I am in realtionship with who do not yet know Jesus I see the issue of evangelism in an entirely different light, one filled with hope.